BuzzFeed Weekly Viral Forecast

As predicted, Harry Potter blows Transformers away! Argentina has a new Viral Video meme, and Planking won't stop producing mutations! It's your Weekly Viral Forecast for Monday, July 18th, 2011!

Google+ To Gain Female Users?

Last week, multiple 3rd party statistics sites reported that the majority of users already on Google+ skewed male by as much as 87%.

But this morning, CNET reports that Ancestry.com has found the male majority on Google+ at only 66% and falling fast.

The different sampling methods used from each 3rd party source makes the differing results unsurprising, but if Google+ is going to become a relevant Facebook competitor it will need to appeal more to a female user base.

Harry Potter Sets Box Office Record

Last week after Transformers: Dark Of The Moon was making headlines for being the highest grossing film of 2011, I predicted that the release of the final Harry Potter film would not only outsell it in the box office, but would score higher in terms of Tweets and Google searches as well.

This morning, I'm feeling confident about my prediction. As the New York Times put it this morning, Potter sold "a staggering $476 million in tickets around the world over the weekend, breaking major box office records and leaving Hollywood executives shell-shocked."

On Google, searches for "Harry Potter" (shown in blue) exceeded the peak height of "Transformers" (show in red) in anticipation, days before the film's release.

Tweets about Harry Potter didn't reach their apex until Friday night after most people saw the film.

Holding Steady: Gandalf Vs. Dumbledore

Steadily gaining viral views due over the weekend was the video Gandalf vs Dumbledore. Epic Rap Battles of History #11. First uploaded to Youtube last Thursday, the video didn't exactly sky-rocket, but shares on Facebook began to roll in after the film's release.

Rebekah Brooks Arrested In Connection With Phone Hacking Scandal

huffingtonpost.co.uk

Even after the News Of The World was effectively dissolved for hacking into peoples' phones, the corruption investigation has gotten into full swing with the arrest of Rebekah Brooks.

My only prediction in relation to this is that it will remain a big story for weeks to come.

Break Out Viral Video Meme: El Tano Pasman

This video of an Argentinian man reacting to the River Plate vs. Belgrano soccer game on June 26th has been going viral in a big way over the last few weeks.

Not only does the original video have over 5 million views, but it has spun off into various remixes, many with hundreds of thousands of views.

My Spanish is not so good anymore, but in Latin America this video looks a bit like the next Angry German Kid.

Owling Continues To Gain

Shortly after Planking entered the pop culture mass consciousness, Cone-ing appeared as a much more bizarre participatory response. But after only appearing a week ago, it seems that Owling has eclipsed the popularity of Cone-ing in terms of both searches and Tweets.

Owling (blue), Cone-ing (red), on Twitter.

Although Owling was searched more than Cone-ing, it hasn't exceeded Cone-ing Tweets just yet.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Gearing up for the release of the latest Planet Of the Apes reboot, 20th Century Fox is releasing a number of made-to-go-viral videos such as "Ape With An AK-47," "Chimp With Machete," and "Chimp Plays First Person Shooter" under the guise of found-footage studied as research for the creation of the film. Regardless of the staged nature of the videos, the videos are accruing millions of views.

With so much interest in the hoax videos, I imagine that videos of real studies on primate intelligence such as Kanzi Understands Spoken Language might fair well in the coming week.

Remember the monkey who stole a camera, took his own photo, and went viral about two weeks ago?

The story took a confusing turn last week as questions about who legally owns the photos remain unanswered.

I have no proof that this was in any way connected to the Planet Of The Apes viral campaign, but the thematic similarities are undeniable. If the story turns out to be a promotional prank, then at least it's been successful.